JAKARTA, March 16 (AFP) - A timber firm part owned by the closest business associate of
fallen president Suharto has stopped operations in East Timor because of rising tensions
there, a report said Tuesday.

Work had ground to a halt at PT Fendi Hutani Lestari, 40 percent owned by the state-run
firm PT Inhutani I and 60 percent by Mohamad "Bob" Hasan's company PT Fendi
Indah, the Jakarta Post said, quoting a senior forestry official.

"The company reported that two of its employees had been killed while many others
were attacked in the past months," forestry ministry director general of forest
utilisation Waskito Soerjodibroto said.

After the killings, the rest of the employees felt insecure about working on the 40,000
hectare (98,000 acre) timber estate, he said.

In the Viqueque area of East Timor, the estate was established in 1996, with the aim of
rehabilitating the forest and land, and to provide job opportunities.

Tensions have been rising and hundreds of Indonesian settlers have left East Timor
since Jakarta said in January the former Portuguese colony, invaded by Indonesian troops
in 1975 could choose between broad autonomy or independence.